The Importance of Stuff

I did not preach last Sunday.  The reason I did not preach is that I was in Armour, where my parents live in a nursing home.  Wanda and I have been boxing up the stuff that was in their basement.  They’ve had water in their basement, and it’s a continuing problem.  There’s a moldy smell, which probably means there’s mold there, so the basement has to be re-done.  Which means, of course, that we need to get all the stuff out of the basement so the construction guys can do their work.

The amount of stuff a person accumulates over the course of a lifetime is amazing.  It’s even more amazing, of course, if you’re the sort of person who never wants to throw anything away.  But all of us do this to one extent or another.  We all accumulate an awful lot of stuff.  I’ve done it, too.  Wanda and I must have thrown out fifty garbage bags of stuff when we moved here from North Sioux City six and a half years ago, but we still have tons of stuff.  We should get busy throwing it out, but we probably won’t.  It will probably stay right where it is until someday we move again, whether that’s through re-appointment or retirement.

Human beings place a high value on stuff.  I’m not criticizing that.  I’m just stating a fact.  Some of you reading this have had to move from your house into an apartment or a nursing home.  When you did, you had to dispose of a lot of stuff.  And I’m sure that was hard.  Because in many cases, stuff is not just stuff.  It’s important to us.  Some of it is stuff we need.  Some of it is stuff that we don’t strictly need, but stuff that makes our lives easier or more enjoyable.  And some of it is stuff that has meaning to us.  We get sentimental over stuff, because stuff leads to memories, and memories are important to us.

There’s nothing wrong with having stuff.  Probably all of us have more stuff than, strictly speaking, we need, but it’s not for me to say how much stuff you ought to have.  That’s up to you, or at least it’s between you and God.

There’s nothing wrong with having stuff, but there can be when our stuff becomes too important to us.  The Bible tells us “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”  (Matthew 6:21).  If stuff is what we treasure, then our heart will be with our stuff.  Instead of us owning our stuff, our stuff starts to own us.  That’s not good.  It’s not good for our heart to be with our stuff.  Our heart needs to be with God.

So this week, let’s all think of our relationship with our stuff.  Do we own our stuff?  Or does our stuff own us?  If it’s the latter, let’s doing something about that.  Let’s break the chains that bind us to our stuff.  Let’s make sure our hearts are with God.

Easy for God

I read a quote once from the comedian Steve Martin.  He had written a book, and someone asked him how he thought it had come out.  He said, “Well, I think I did pretty well, considering that I started with just a blank piece of paper.”

That, of course, is how each one of these blog posts starts out--with a blank piece of paper.  Of, a blank computer screen, which amounts to the same thing.  I write on it for a while, and I hope that in the end I wind up with something that makes a point, or at least makes some sort of sense.  I’m sure sometimes I come closer to that goal than I do at other times.  But that’s the goal.

The point is that every time I write something--any time anyone writes something--what we’re doing is creating something out of nothing.  That’s not easy.  In fact, it can be a rather daunting task.  Sometimes it can be downright intimidating.

Now think about God.  God created the entire universe out of nothing.  And for God it was easy.  God did not have to lift a finger.  All God had to do was speak.  God said, “Let there be light” and there was.  God said, “Let the land produce vegetation” and it did.  All God had to do to create the entire universe was to speak.

You see, the act of creation--the creation of anything--can be really hard for humans, but it’s really easy for God.  And that’s true of everything else, too.  Things that are really hard--maybe even impossible--for humans are really easy for God.

So the next time you run into something that’s really hard, remember that.  And turn it over to God.  Because what’s really hard for you and me--what may seem impossible for you and me--is easy for God.  And sometimes, I think God really enjoys showing us what God can do when we just get out of God’s way and turn things over to God.

Whatever you’re dealing with this week, turn it over to God.  Let God handle it.  It may be hard for you.  But it will be easy for God.

What We'll Do In Heaven

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 21, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Revelation 4:1-11, 5:6, 11-14.

            As Christians, we believe in heaven.  We believe in hell, too, but as Christians, we believe that we’re going to heaven.  One of the most basic beliefs in the Christian faith is that if we believe in God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will be saved and have eternal life with God.

            But even though we believe that, a lot of times we wonder about heaven.  It’s just a hard concept for us, as humans, to really get our minds around.  We know it’s going to be good.  I mean, it would not be heaven if it was not good, right?  In fact, we know it’s going to be more than good, it’s going to be awesome.  But still--what’s it like there?  What does heaven look like?  What will we do there?  Even though we believe in heaven, we feel like we really don’t understand it.

            We’ll get to that.  But we’ve said before that there’s a lot of symbolism and imagery in Revelation, and we run into that here, so I want to talk about it a little bit.  First, you heard about twenty-four elders sitting on twenty-four thrones.  We don’t know for sure who they are, but the most common explanation seems to be that they represent the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel--in other words, the twelve sons of Jacob--plus the twelve apostles.

            We then read about seven lamps blazing, which we’re told are “the seven spirits of God”.  This is usually thought to refer to Isaiah Chapter eleven, Verses two and three.  That’s a prophecy of the coming of Christ, and it says, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him--the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.”  And we also need to realize that seven was considered a number that represents perfection.  So God, being perfect, would have seven spirits.

            Then comes the four living creatures covered with eyes.  One is like a lion, one like an ox, one has a face like a man, and one is like a flying eagle.  Each has six wings.  What’s that all about?

            Well, we cannot say for sure about that, either.  They appear to be some sort of heavenly beings.  Perhaps an order of angels, although we don’t know.  They’re similar to beings described in passages in Ezekiel and Isaiah, creatures called cherubim and seraphim.  The eyes all around are thought to represent the fact that these creatures see everything--there is nothing that escapes their notice.

            By this time you’ve probably noticed that I’m saying a lot of things like “the most common explanation is” or “this is usually thought to refer to” or “this appears to be”.  These are things we don’t know for sure.  People who are supposed to be experts don’t agree.  Sometimes you’ll read definitive statements about these things, but that just means the author you’re reading is convinced he or she is right.  You could find another author who’d say something different.

            And the other thing we don’t know is whether we’re supposed to take these things literally.  Listen again to how God is described:  “Before me was a throne with someone sitting on it.  And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby.  A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”  Is that really what God looks like?  I don’t know.  It could be.  Are there really twenty-four actual thrones encircling God’s throne?  I don’t know.  There could be.  We’re told “Also before the throne was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”  Does that literally exist?

            We don’t know.  The only way we’ll know is when we get to heaven to see these things.  But that’s okay.  Because appearances are not important.  What these things look like is not important, just like God does not judge us based on our appearance.  God looks at our hearts, and our hearts are revealed by our words and our actions.

            So, what do all these things--these elders, these living creatures--what do they say, and what do they do?  They worship God.  They worship the Lamb who was slain, Jesus Christ.  They acknowledge that God the Father and God the Son are worthy of worship.

            Listen to this again.  “Day and night, the living creatures never stop saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’”  And whenever they do that, “the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.  They lay their crowns before the throne and say:  ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’”

            And they say similar things of Jesus Christ.  Listen to this:  “In a loud voice they were saying, ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise...To him who sits on the throne and is the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!’”

            That’s what the elders do.  That’s what the living creatures do.  They worship God--God the Father and God the Son.  Their words, their actions, all revolve around the worship of God.  They are constantly worshiping God.

            And that’s what I think you and I will do in heaven, too.  We’ll worship God.  We will constantly be worshiping God.  Our every word and our every action will be to worship God.

            Now, maybe you’re thinking, is that it?  Is that all we’re going to do in heaven?  I thought I was going to be able to have fun in heaven.  This does not sound like fun.  It sounds boring.  Just sit around and bow down to God all day?  Not get to do any of the stuff I enjoy?  Do nothing but give praise to God for all eternity?  

            Well, I don’t know if we just sit around and bow down to God all the time.  There may well be other things we do to serve God and worship God in heaven.  In fact, I think there probably are.  But the point is that even as we do those other things, we will still be worshiping God.  The things we do will be done in such a way, and with such an attitude, as to be acts of worship to God.

            And no, it won’t get boring.  You know why?  Because we will be in the presence of God.

            The thing is, you and I tend to think of God in human terms.  That’s okay.  In fact, as human beings, that may be the only way we can think of God and still have our thoughts make any sense.  But the fact is that God is so much more than a human being could ever be.  God is so much bigger and grander and greater and awesomer than anything we human beings can even begin to imagine.  When we are in the presence of God--the actual presence of the almighty God--when we truly see God in all God’s glory and splendor and majesty, we are going to be filled with a sense of awe.  We are going to be stunned.  We are going to stand there with our mouths open, just utterly amazed at who God really is.

            And when we see God in all God’s holiness and perfection, we’re going to realize just how unholy and imperfect we are.  And then we’ll truly realize, in a way that we can never quite realize while we’re on earth, just how much God really loves us.  And we’ll truly realize, again in a way that we never can quite realize while we’re on earth, what an incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us.  And we’ll also realize what an incredible, unbelievable gift the gift of salvation and eternal life truly is.

And when we realize that, we are going to be just so incredibly grateful that this holy and perfect God has allowed us to be in God’s presence, to be in heaven with God, that there is absolutely nothing else we will want to do but worship God and thank God.  There won’t be another thought that even enters our minds.  It won’t occur to us to do anything but worship God and be grateful to God for allowing us to be in heaven.  Worshiping God will never get boring.  We’ll never get tired of it.

But you know, even though we cannot really imagine God as God really is, we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to worship God.  We can do it now, while we’re on earth.  Not perfectly, not the way we will in heaven.  But we can do better than we’re doing.  

That’s not to say that we never worship God now.  You’re here in church.  As we said last week, that makes you part of a minority group--the people who actually attend church on a Sunday morning.  And you came here to worship God.  That’s all good.  This is not meant as a criticism.  But we can all do better at worshiping God, not just in church, but throughout our lives.  I know I certainly can.

What did we say earlier?  God looks at our hearts, and our hearts are revealed by our words and our actions.  Let’s think about our words and our actions.  How often do they reflect our worship of God?  They do sometimes, I’m sure.  But could we do better?  I know I could.

So this week, let’s take some time to think about who God is.  Let’s think about the glory and holiness and perfection of God.  Let’s realize just how worthy of our worship God is.  And let’s make our words and actions on earth show our worship of God now, just the way they will in heaven.

Following God

We pastors love to talk about how we should all follow where God leads us.  I talk about it a lot, too.  And in theory, it’s something we all want to do.  But there’s a problem with following where God leads us, which is this:  sometimes God wants to lead us to places that we don’t want to go.  Sometimes God wants to lead us to do things we don’t want to do.  And we know that.  And that’s what makes it hard to really commit to following God.

I’m not talking about going to be a missionary in Africa or something like that.  I do believe God calls people do things like that, but I also believe that, most of the time, when God does that, God puts something in those people’s hearts that makes them want to do it.  It may not have been something they wanted to do initially, but the idea took root and grew in them until it became something they not only wanted to do but something they felt they had to do.  

What I’m talking about is the more mundane, ordinary things that you and I can be called to do.  Things like going to visit a friend when we’d really just as soon stay home.  Things like making a phone call to someone who you really might not even like very much, but who you know is going through a tough time and needs to know that someone cares.  Things like listening to someone’s litany of complaints about their health, about the situation, about life in general, when not only have you heard those complaints numerous times before but you have plenty of things to complain about yourself.

There are times when you and I are called to do those things, as well as numerous other, similar things that we really don’t want to do.  It can be in those little things that we find out whether we’re truly committed to following God.  It can be in those little things that we truly show our love for God.

So, think of something like that in your life.  I think we probably all have them.  What is it for you?  What are those things that you know you should do, but that you really don’t want to do?  Once you’ve thought of them, ask yourself this:  is it possible that these are things God is calling me to do?  Are these things that I need to do, even though I may not want to, if I’m really going to commit myself to following God?

I don’t know.  But I do know that a lot of our Christian faith is seen, not in the big, huge things that everybody sees, but in the small, seemingly minor things that very few people, if any, see.  The small, mundane, ordinary things are often where we truly show whether we’ve truly committed ourselves to following God.

So, I hope you’ll think about this and pray about this in the coming week.  Think about the small, ordinary things in your life that you know you should do, but that you really don’t want to do.  Pray about whether those are, in fact, things God is calling you to do.  If they are, and if we do them, we can take a significant step toward committing our lives to following God.

Don't Settle

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 14, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Revelation 2:1-7; 3:14-22.

            As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God.  We believe that it has timeless truths that are just as valid today as they were when they were written.  But at the same time, as we said last week, each book of the Bible was written at a specific time, and many of them were written for a specific audience.  In the case of the book of Revelation, that audience is seven churches in Asia.

            Chapters two and three of the book of Revelation contain a specific message from the Lord for each one of those churches.  We did not do all seven in our Bible reading for today just because it would’ve taken too long.  We heard two of them, the first and the last.  But we’re going to talk about all of them.

            Most of the messages take the form of the first one, the message to the church in Ephesus.  The Lord tells the church, look, I know you’re doing some good things.  I know you’ve been trying.  But I have something against you.  And you need to take care of it.  You need to repent of your sins before it’s too late.  And if you do, you’ll receive your reward.

            The Lord tells the church in Ephesus “You have forsaken the love you had at first.”  It’s not that they’re doing such terrible things.  But they used to have love for God and love for others.  They used to do everything out of love, and now they’re not.  They need to get back to that love they had at first.

            The Lord tells the church at Pergamum that they’re starting to chase false teachings.  The Lord tells the church at Thyatira they are allowing a specific false prophet to spread false teachings.  Both churches need to get serious and be clear about what is and is not acceptable for a follower of Jesus Christ.

            The Lord tells the church in Sardis that they started well, but now they’ve fallen asleep.  They’re dead, and they need to wake up.  They need to remember what they’ve been given by the Lord and repent of having stopped what they were doing.

            The Lord tells the church in Laodicea this:  “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish that you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Now, let’s think about all those things.  Doing good things but not out of love, allowing false teachings to be spread, not being clear about what is and is not acceptable for followers of Christ, needing to wake up and get back to doing what we’re called to do, being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold--what kind of people do those things describe?

To me, what those things describe is people who would say they believe in God.  People who would say they believe in Jesus Christ.  People who try to do good things and live good lives.  People who, if we knew them, we would say are good people.  We might even admire them and want to be more like them.

So, if that’s who those things describe, what’s so wrong about that?  Why is the Lord critical of that?  Why is the Lord so hard on people who you and I would think of as good people?

The thing is, what those things describe is people who just want to live a quiet, peaceful life.  They’re not going to do bad things, at least not intentionally.  But they’re not going to make any waves, either.  They’re going to do good things, they’re going to help people.  They’re even going to go to church sometimes.  But they’re not going to talk about their faith.  They’re not going to do anything to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They want to get along.  They want to fit in.  They’ll keep their faith, but they’ll keep it privately, so no one will get upset.

Now, I want to make a couple of things clear.  I am not standing here pointing fingers at anyone.  If I’m pointing fingers at anyone, I need to point them at myself.  Because I have done that many times.  I still do it far too often.  Because I want to get along, too.  I want to fit in, too.  It’s a natural human desire.  I fight it sometimes, but far too often I give in to it.  So if it sounds like I’m being critical of anyone else, please understand that I mean to be just as critical of myself.

And also understand why the Lord said these things.  The Lord did not make these criticisms just to be hard on people.  The Lord is not doing this out of anger.  The Lord does this out of love.  Verse nineteen says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.”  God is not beating up on people just for the heck of it.  God is saying these things because God loves us.

But because God loves us, God does not want us to settle.  God knows God’s people can do better than this.  God knows that you and I can do better than this.  God knows that you and I need to do better than this.  God knows that the world needs you and I to do better than this.

Because here’s the thing.  There are a lot of things you and I talk about.  We talk about the number of people in our community who don’t go to church.  We talk about the decline of Christianity in the United States.  We talk about how, if the country is going to get back on the right track, we need to return to Christian principles.  I would guess that just about everyone here has talked about those things and similar things at one time or another.  And I have, too.

So how is any of those things going to be changed?  Well, they won’t be changed by people who don’t want to make waves.  They won’t be changed by people who just want to get along.  They won’t be changed by people who just want to fit in.  If any of those things is going to be changed, they’re going to be changed by people--people like you and me--who have the courage to stand up for what’s right and what’s wrong.  They’re going to be changed by people--people like you and me--trusting God enough to be willing to take chances, to be willing to risk people being upset with us or even being unpopular, in order to stand up for Jesus Christ.

It’s not easy.  In fact, it gets harder all the time.  When I was growing up in the small town of Delmont, South Dakota, it was assumed that everyone you met was a Christian and that everyone you met was part of a church.  People might ask which church you went to, but nobody asked whether you went to church.  It was just assumed that you did.  And so it was much easier to talk about Christian faith, because you figured the person you were talking to shared it.

That’s not the case now.  It has not been for some time.  There are more people in this community who don’t go to church than there are who do.  They may nominally be part of a church, but they don’t attend very often if ever.  We cannot just assume that everyone we meet is a Christian any more.  If we start talking about our Christian faith, the person we’re talking with may not share it.  In fact, the person we’re talking with may make fun of our faith and make fun of us.  That’s hard.  None of us wants to be made fun of.  We want people to think well of us.  And so, it’s harder for us to talk about our faith.  We tend to keep quiet about it, to keep it to ourselves.

It’s understandable.  And I do it, too.  But it needs to stop.  It needs to stop for all of us, including me.  Because you and I are not called to keep quiet about our faith.  The next-to-last sentence of Jesus on earth recorded in the gospel of Matthew is “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  Not “keep your faith to yourselves.”  But “Go and make disciples.”

That’s how we’re going to change the world: by going and making disciples.  It’s in the mission statement of the United Methodist church:  to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  If the world is going to change--if our community is going to change--it’s going to change by the people of God--you and me--going and making disciples of Jesus Christ.

And when we don’t want to do it, when we’d rather not take chances, when we’re worried that we’ll be rejected for doing this, we need to remember two things.  One, we don’t do it alone.  God will be with us.  I just quoted you the next-to-last sentence of Jesus on earth.  Here’s the last one:  “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  If we refuse to settle, if we’re willing to take chances and make some waves, if we’re willing to go and make disciples the way Jesus told us to, God will be with us.  And when God is with us, we know things will go the way their supposed to go.  Because with God, all things are possible.

And the other thing to remember is that we’ll get our reward.  Remember, there’s two of the seven churches I haven’t mentioned yet.  Here’s what the Lord said to the church in Smyrna.  “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.  I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution...Be faithful...and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”  And to the church in Philadelphia, the Lord said, “I know that you have little strength, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name...Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial...Hold on to what you have.  Those who are victorious, I will make pillars in the temple of my God.”

The people of the seven churches were all “good people”.  We’d have probably liked them.  God loved them.  That’s why God said the things God said to them--because God loved them.  God knew they could do better.  God wanted them to do better.  God knew the world needed them to do better.

You and I need to not settle for being “good people”.  God loves us.  God knows we can do better.  God wants us to do better.  God knows the world needs us to do better.

It’s not easy.  But we can do it.  God will be with us.  And if we do, if we are faithful to God, if we go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, we will receive our reward.  And it will be awesome.

(Almost) Everything Ends

In recent months, two towns in our area had landmark buildings torn down.  In Hoven, Holy Infant Hospital came down.  In Onida, the Fireside restaurant was taken down.

I’m always kind of fascinated to see a building torn down.  I don’t mean that I enjoy it.  It’s sad, really, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.  What I mean is that if I’m around, I can’t take my eyes off of it.  It’s such a sudden, shocking thing.  The day before, both of those buildings looked solid, sturdy even.  You’d have thought they’d last for decades of more.  And then, in a matter of hours, they’re gone.  It’s hard for me to believe.

As I said, I think it’s sad when a building comes down.  I know it’s just a building, but in a way it’s not.  It’s memories.  In the case of Holy Infant Hospital, children were born there.  People were made well there.  And I’m sure that in some instances people passed away there, too.  And when people passed by the hospital, those memories came back to them.  Yes, you can keep your memories, but you don’t have the building there to bring them to mind.  The reminder of those memories is gone.

The case of the Fireside is similar.  There were all kinds of celebrations held there.  People met there.  People went on dates there.  In some cases, people probably fell in love there.  People rekindled old friendships there.  There were all kinds of things that happened at the Fireside.  And again, you can keep your memories, but you don’t have the building there to bring them to mind.  The reminder of those memories is gone.  And that’s sad.

But when you think about it, it’s the way life is.  Everything has its time and everything ends.  Everything has to end sometime--otherwise nothing new would ever get started.  Things end, and that’s sad.  But then something begins, and that’s happy.  It’s true of everything.  Buildings.  Jobs.  Phases of life.  Life itself.  Even the world will end at some point.  Everything has its time, and everything ends.

Except for one thing.  God.  God is the one who never ends.  God is eternal.  God is the one who was, who is, and who is to come.  There is never a time when God was not, and there will never be a time when God is not.  It is always God’s time.  God never ends.

And you know what else will never end?  Our lives.  That is, if we believe in God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.  If we do that, our lives will never end.  We will receive salvation, and we will go on to eternal life in the presence of God.  And that’s definitely not sad.  That’s the happiest thing there could ever be.

It’s sad when a building comes down, but there always comes a point when a building outlives its usefulness.  It’s sad when our lives come to an end, but there always comes a point when our bodies outlive their usefulness, too.  But for Christians, when our lives end, something new gets started--eternal life in the presence of God.  And that’s happy.  In fact, that’s the ultimate happy!

Introduction to a Revelation

This is the sermon given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 7, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Revelation 1:1-20.

            Today we start a new sermon series.  For the next several weeks, we’re going to take a look at the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation.

            A lot of people tend to shy away from the book of Revelation.  And I have too, at times.  There are reasons why.  For one thing, it’s not a book that’s easy to understand.  In many places, it’s not particularly straightforward.  There’s a lot of symbolism in it, a lot imagery that can put us off if we don’t take the time to try to understand it.

            For another thing, it’s not always a pleasant book to read.  There’s a lot of stuff about battles between good and evil.  There’s a lot of stuff about the end of the world as we know it.  That can be kind of scary.  It can also be a challenge to our faith.  I mean, we like the parts of the Bible that talk about God is love and God is forgiveness and God is mercy.  And those are important parts of the Bible for us to know.  God is all those things.  God is love and God is forgiveness and God is mercy.  But God is also some other things, and those things can kind of scare us sometimes.  Most of us don’t even like to contemplate the end of our own lives.  To think about the end of the world, or at least the world as we know it, is not something most of us want to do.  It makes most of us uncomfortable, to say the least.

            And then, too, there’s stuff in the book of Revelation that strikes us as just plain weird.   You’ve got living creatures with six wings and eyes all around.  You’ve got dragons with seven heads and ten horns.  And we’ll get into that stuff later in the sermon series, but when we first read it, we go “What in the world?  What’s all this about?”  And we’re tempted to just throw up our hands and give up.  We want to go back to John Three, Sixteen and Jesus’ parables and stuff that we feel like we at least have a chance to understand.

            And I suspect the Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation, knew that’s how people were going to react.  Because at the start of the book, the start of our reading for today, John goes out of his way to say this “is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  And then he says “blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written it it, because the time is near.”

            In other words, John is going out of his way to tell us that the book of Revelation is part of God’s word.  The book of Revelation is just as important as the book of Genesis or the Psalms or the gospels or Paul’s letters.  It’s a prophecy, just as important as the Old Testament prophecies.  The book of Revelation is just as important as every other book in the Bible.  And if we believe, as we say we do, that the entire Bible is the inspired word of God, then we need to not ignore part of God’s word just because we don’t understand it or because it might scare us.

            And besides, there’s one thing we always need to keep in mind as we study the book of Revelation.  No matter how scary things get, no matter how weird things get, there’s one thing to keep in mind.  God wins.  God triumphs over evil.  God wins.  And if you and I believe in God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we win, too.  We win salvation and eternal life in the presence of God.  No matter what else happens in the book of Revelation, no matter what we may talk about in this sermon series, remember that.  God wins.  And if we believe in God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we win, too.

            Verse four tells us that John is addressing this writing to “the seven churches in the province of Asia.”  Those churches are named, and that number seven is going to come up more as we go through Revelation.  In fact, it comes up later in this reading.  But it’s going to be important, as we go through Revelation, to remember that John was originally writing to a specific audience.  The reason that’s important is that it’s part of the reason why Revelation uses so much symbolism and imagery.  It’s believed that at least some of that symbolism is there to address the specific situation the churches in Asia were facing.  It was a dangerous time for Christians.  They were under the rule of Rome, and Rome was cracking down on Christianity.  Christians were being persecuted.  There are messages in Revelation that address that, but they’re written symbolically so the people in the churches of Asia would know what they meant, but the government would not.  

            But really, most of the Bible was originally written to a specific audience.  But still, it contains timeless truth that we can still benefit from.  And so, as we go through Revelation, we’ll again be asking the questions we’ve asked so many times.  Why is this in the Bible?  What does it tell me about God, or about myself, or about faith, or about my relationship with God?  What can I learn from all this?

            There’s almost always more than one answer to those questions, or course.  We can read a passage of the Bible for the twentieth time and suddenly learn something that had never occurred to us before.  But here’s what I want to focus on today, from Chapter One of Revelation.

            John sees Jesus Christ.  But this is not the Jesus Christ we normally picture.  Listen to how John describes Jesus.  He was like a human being, but:

The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.  His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.  In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword.  His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

            We talk a lot about the humanness of Jesus while he was on earth.  I talk about it a lot, myself.  And I love the fact that Jesus did come to earth and live as a human being.  As we’ve said before, that humanness of Jesus is one of the ways we can know that the Lord understands what we go through as human beings.  God went through it Himself, in the form of Jesus.

            But it’s also important that we remember who Jesus truly is.  Jesus is not just the sweet, nice, gentle Jesus we like to think about.  Jesus is God--God the Son.  Jesus has power and glory that you and I cannot even imagine.  I don’t know if what John describes here is truly Jesus in all his glory.  It could be that Jesus had to tone it down, even here, partly so John could recognize him and partly so John could handle it.

            John says that when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet as though dead.  He does not say why.  It may have been fear, it may have been humility, it may have been shame, it may have been worship, it may have been all of those things and more.  But listen to what Jesus says to John:

Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of hell and death.

Jesus establishes for John who he is.  He says “I am the First and the Last...I am alive for ever and ever.”  That echoes what God had said earlier, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and was and is to come.”  Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Saying God is the Alpha and Omega is another way of saying God is the first and last, just as Jesus is.  God is the one who is and was and is to come.  Jesus is alive for ever and ever.  Jesus is God--God the Son.

But Jesus tells John two other things.  First, he says “Do not be afraid.”  He is telling John, you don’t have to be scared of me.  Even though you are seeing me in a way you’ve never seen me before, even though you are seeing at least some of my glory and power, you don’t have to be afraid of me.  I am still your friend.  I still love you.

That’s an important thing for us to know.  It’s an important thing for us to remember.  And I think it comes in the first chapter of Revelation on purpose.  As we’ve said, there are a lot of scary things that happen in Revelation.  There are a lot of things that we don’t understand.  But as we go through all that, we always need to remember that Jesus is still our friend.  The Lord still loves us.  No matter what happens, that love will always be there.  We need to remember that.

And the other thing Jesus tells John is this:  “I hold the keys of death and Hades.”  I think that comes in the first chapter on purpose, too.  Jesus wants us to know that no matter how scared we get, no matter how many bad things may happen, no matter how many things we don’t understand, the Lord is still in control.  Jesus is the master over death itself.  No matter what happens, in death or in life, Jesus is there.  Jesus is in control of it all.  And because Jesus loves us, Jesus will take care of us through it all, if we only trust him and believe in him as our Savior.

It’s important for us to know that in our lives on earth, too.  Because there are a lot of scary things that happen on earth.  There are a lot of things that happen on earth that we don’t understand.  But no matter how scared we get, no matter how many bad things may happen, no matter how many things we don’t understand, the Lord is still in control.  And because Jesus loves us, Jesus will take care of us through our lives on earth, too, if we only trust him and believe in him as our Savior.

We’ve only scratched the surface of the book of Revelation.  Going through it is going to be an exciting, wild ride.  But as we go through Revelation, and as we go through our lives, let’s remember the things Jesus told John.  Jesus has great power and great glory.  He is the divine Son of God.  But we don’t need to be afraid.  Jesus loves us.  Jesus is in control.  And Jesus will always be there for us, through the end of the world and beyond.

It's a New Year!

Well, we made it through 2017!  It is now 2018.  A new year!

I think New Year’s Day is my favorite of all the non-religious holidays.  And no, it’s not just because there are a bunch of football games on TV that day.  That doesn’t hurt, of course, but that’s not the reason New Year’s Day is my favorite non-religious holiday.

It seems to me there’s something almost magical about the New Year.  In fact, I even kind of like just writing the date.  1-1-18.  The first day of the first month of the year.  Symbolically, it’s like everything is starting over again.  We know it doesn’t, really—we will all carry baggage from the old year into the new one—but for a little while, it seems that way.  That’s why we make New Year’s Resolutions, after all.  There’s no reason we could not resolve to change our lives on May twenty-fourth or August twelfth.  But symbolically, it just seems right to let January 1—1-1—be the day that we decide things are going to change.

When we hit January 1, we have three hundred sixty-five days of the new year stretching before us.  Anything could happen in those days.  Literally, anything.  You could become famous.  You could become wealthy.  You could make new friends and form new relationships.  All kinds of things could happen to you in the three hundred sixty-five days of the new year.

And that’s true in our journey of faith, too.  Literally anything could happen in those three hundred sixty-five days.  You could introduce someone to Jesus Christ in those three hundred sixty-five days.  You could help someone who’s going through a crisis of faith.  You could be there for someone when they need someone.  Your love of God could become deeper.  Your love of your neighbor could become stronger.  You could do almost anything in the three hundred sixty-five days of the new year.

There’s something else that could happen in those three hundred sixty-five days.  Jesus could come again.  Do you ever think about that?  Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a prediction.  Do I have any reason to think Jesus will come again in 2018?  No.  But I also don’t have any reason to think Jesus won’t come again in 2018.  I have no way to know, one way or the other.  What I do know is what Jesus told us.  Jesus told us to be ready all the time.  Are you?  Am I?

If we’re not, the time to get ready is now.  So let’s make that our New Year’s Resolution:  to be ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Let’s resolve to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Let’s resolve to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Let’s resolve to truly accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior.  Let’s resolve to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Let’s resolve that, in 2018, we will truly be deserving of the name “Christian”.

Let’s take advantage of the three hundred sixty-five days that are stretching in front of us.  Let’s make 2018 the year when we do everything we can to live up the name of “children of God.”